Panic Attack
by aoi-himesama
Summary: Misaki asks Aoi's help in cooking a soup. Everything was normal, right? Wrong. 'Cause Aoi-sama has this little childhood accident involving knives. And yeah, they had to cut vegetables. What will Misaki do if Aoi has a panic attack?


**A/N: **_Something random that came up when I was helping my Mom cook._

**Disclaimer: **_I own nothing but the plot. I wish I owned Aoi Hyoudou, though. XD_

**Summary: **_Misaki asks Aoi's help in cooking a soup. Everything was normal, right? Wrong. 'Cause Aoi-sama has this little childhood accident involving knives. And yeah, they had to cut vegetables. What will Misaki do if Aoi has a panic attack?_

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**Panic Attack**

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"What do I do?" Aoi Hyoudou asked with a sigh.

Misaki looked at the net-idol with a smile, she was glad the boy was here to help, albeit the unnecessary ruffled pink dress and the blonde wig he was wearing. "First, do you have any other clothes? I hate to ruin that pretty dress."

"No. Hand me an apron. I'm fine with this."

Misaki frowned but complied. Getting the boy to help was hard enough so she wouldn't risk chasing the boy off by asking him to have a change of clothes. She got the flower printed apron Satsuki always used and handed it to the boy.

At seeing the fairly cute apron, Aoi smirked. "I'm surprised you have at least a touch of femininity in here. Let's exchange."

Misaki looked at the plain green apron she was wearing. "But I thought you'd like the cute one," she asked, brows furrowed.

Aoi rolled his eyes. "I do. I just like to see if it suits you."

Misaki frowned but she removed the green apron and wore the flower printed one. She looked at Aoi in question.

Aoi was just done tying the green apron on his waist and turned around to see Misaki. What he saw almost made him drop his jaw, a pink tint crept in his cheeks.

"So, how does it look?" Misaki asked, oblivious to the blush in the boy's face.

_Crap, she actually looks good in it._ "I _told_ you, you should wear more feminine stuff like that! Now what are you still doing there? I thought we were going to cook? You're wasting my precious time here!"

"Okay, okay," Misaki held her hands up as she turned around to check the ingredients for the soup they were going to prepare. She shook her head. She would never really understand Aoi's mood swings.

"Hurry up," The boy scolded.

"Yeah. So let's prepare the vegetables first. I'll do the cabbage, you do the carrots. You okay with that?" She turned to look at the boy when he didn't answer.

"W-We have to slice them?" The boy asked, his voice a bit higher than usual.

"Yeah, why?" Misaki's eyes narrowed.

"Nothing! Hand me the knife. Hurry up!"

Misaki handed one of the knives to him and Aoi hesitantly got it, careful to put a safe distance between him and the dangerous piece of kitchen utensil.

"Are you okay Aoi-chan?" Misaki asked, concerned at the glare the boy was giving the knife.

"Of course I am! Hand me the carrots."

Misaki did and also handed her one of the chopping boards. She then proceeded to work.

"Am I doing it right?" Misaki asked the boy once she had sliced a third of the vegetable.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. But make them a bit thicker," Aoi said as he inspected the older woman's work.

"Why aren't you doing yours yet?"

"Shut up. I'm just checking if you could do yours properly," Aoi snapped. When Misaki returned to her work, Aoi took a deep breath.

It has been a long time since he last cut ingredients when cooking. He usually let Satsuki do it after an unfortunate accident he had when slicing the meat for one of their family dinners. He had accidentally cut his hand and there was a lot of blood.

He was only eight then and that much blood scared the poor boy. He took another deep breath to calm himself. He could do this. He was much older now and he was sure he had more control on his hands compared when he was little.

He got the already peeled carrots and proceeded to cut them, making round thin slices. He gathered the round bits of carrot and cut them again making small rectangular-like strips. He got through one whole carrot safely and that made him a bit relieved. He was doing fine.

He knew what happened the last time was just because of childhood clumsiness. He blew out a breath after getting through half of the second carrot. He sneaked a peek at Misaki who was poring over the cabbages with unusual attention.

Aoi smiled at the scene the girl made. It was so like Misaki to be such a perfectionist in whatever she did.

As the boy was staring, Misaki turned to him. She caught him looking at her and she smiled while wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

She looked so damn cute when she smiled like that and another blush crept in the boy's cheeks. "Get back to work you old hag!" He snapped and turned back to the carrots, slicing furiously to hide his blush.

He forgot that he was supposed to be carefully doing it and accidentally drove the sharp knife in his left pointer finger. "Ow! Damn it!" he moved to the nearby sink to wash his now bleeding finger. There was so much blood. His head was suddenly pounding.

"Are you okay Aoi-chan? Let me see." Misaki rushed to him and looked at his finger.

Aoi snatched it back. "I'm _fine_! Get back to work!"

A chair. He needed to sit down. He was suddenly eight years old again. God, his body felt heavy. He couldn't breathe. There was so much _blood_.

Misaki watched anxiously as the boy stumbled his way out of the Maid Latte kitchen and to the next room where there were chairs for the employees to rest in.

She looked at the unfinished slices of vegetables before deciding that they can wait.

She removed the apron and was looking for tissue when she heard a hard thunk on the next room.

Misaki froze and waited to hear more, hoping it wasn't a body that fell. She heard another thump thump thump, like something repeatedly stomping on the tiled floor.

She immediately got up and rushed to the next room to check what happened.

"Aoi-chan!" She cried when she saw the boy convulsing. It was the boy's head that was repeatedly hitting the floor, the blonde wig lay forgotten.

She slumped beside the boy and cradled his head to keep it from bumping the floor. "Manager!" She called not knowing what happened or what to do.

"Aoi-chan! Aoi-chan. Can you hear me?" she asked frantically, slapping the boy's cheeks gently in hope to bring the boy back. He was still convulsing and his lips where as pale as a corpse's. His whole face was also drained of color.

Satsuki came from the other door and she dropped the papers she was holding, along with the pen she was using to check the bills. "Oh dear, what happened?"

The manager rushed to the two on the floor and noticed her nephew clutching a bleeding finger.

"I see." She calmly stated when she realized what happened. She gently got Aoi's head from Misaki's hands. "Misa-chan, go get me a soda and a cake."

"Huh? What for Manager? He's convulsing!"

Satsuki smiled at the girl, she looked so stressed. "It's okay. I think it's just a panic attack from the cut on his finger. Bad childhood memory, you know. He would need the cake and soda when he comes through. Sugar would help." Satsuki looked at his nephew again. The boy was only slightly shaking now. "See? He'll be fine."

Misaki nodded and got up to get the cake and soda. "Get some tissue, too will you? I think he would have issues with blood when he's conscious."

Aoi opened his eyes just as Satsuki finished what she said. Satsuki saw this and smiled at the boy. "Are you okay now? I never thought that that knife incident when you were a kid would have this effect."

The boy tried to get up suddenly, annoyed and embarrassed at his show of weakness. He swayed as soon as he was upright and was caught by his aunt. Satsuki steadied the boy.

"I'm fine!" He snapped but his body said otherwise. He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the buzzing in his ears and the throbbing in his finger.

Damn knife. He opened his eyes again only to have the pounding in his head increase. Everything looked like a bad T.V. reception. The static in his sight making everything a blob of blurry colors. He closed his eyes again and groaned.

"Here," he heard his aunt say and tugged him to a nearby chair. He reluctantly obeyed and sat, glad that the world was not swirling anymore. He leaned his head and let it hang on the back of the chair. God, it was so hot. He tugged at the neck of his dress.

Satsuki seemed to realize what the boy wanted and moved to loosen the laces on the back of the boy's dress. She heard the boy sigh and fanned himself with his uninjured hand.

Seeing that the boy was okay, Satsuki moved to get the papers and pen she dropped a while ago. She placed the pen and some of the papers in the table and used some of it to fan the boy.

The color was slowly going back to his face when Misaki appeared, soda, cake and tissue in hand. She placed the soda and cake with the fork on the table away from the papers which might get wet. She looked at the boy glad that he was looking normal by the second. She handed the tissue to Satsuki but the older woman shook her head.

"You do it. I'll fan him for the mean time."

She nodded and crouched beside the boy. "Aoi-chan, I'm going to clean your wound. Tell me if it hurts, okay?" She looked at him intently.

Aoi managed a weak nod and groaned when it made him feel nauseous. No moving the head then. He felt Misaki's hand gently holding his, a wet tissue in her hand. The wetness of the tissue felt good on his skin. He felt hot and the cold water was nice. He let Misaki clean the finger, not trusting himself to be able to handle more blood right now.

_Shoot, my dress!_ He grimaced. "How my dress?" He asked, eyes still closed.

He heard Misaki chuckle. He wanted to say something insulting but he didn't care at the moment.

It was so like Aoi to worry more about his creations than himself, Misaki thought. "No permanent damage. It was good that you were wearing an apron."

Aoi sighed in relief. "Good," he said weakly.

He felt Misaki's hands move from his finger to his wrist. Has there been that much blood? He wanted to know but he didn't want to see it so he didn't ask. He could still feel his finger throb, not really hurting now. It was just reminding him that there was a wound there.

Misaki wrapped the wound with tissue. "I'll get disinfectant," she said before getting up.

When Aoi was sure that the girl was out of earshot he opened his eyes and looked at Satsuki. "Thanks Aunty."

"Sure thing. I won't tell your dad," she added, when Aoi seemed to hesitate in asking something. The boy sighed in relief. Satsuki knew Aoi didn't want his father to add another thing to his list of proof that he was acting feminine.

"Misa-chan was really worried, you know," Satsuki added with a smile.

Aoi blushed at the information. "Well she should! She was the one who asked me to cut the damn vegetables!" He said, fuming. He wasn't really angry, he was actually glad to know that the woman was worried.

He made a mistake of looking at his injured finger and gritted his teeth to see that it was still shaking. He dropped it and closed his eyes. Misaki came back with a band-aid and some disinfectant from the first aid kit Satsuki kept in one of the kitchen drawers.

She gently lifted Aoi's hand. She saw that it was shaking and she smiled fondly. It was rare to see the tough Aoi looking like this. He looked kind of cute.

She removed the tissue and dabbed disinfectant on the wound while rubbing soothing circles on the boy's wrist. She smiled when the hand was no longer shaking. She placed a band-aid on it.

"There. All done,"

Aoi opened his eyes again, glad that everything wasn't blurry, only a few dark spots were dancing in his vision now. Satsuki handed him the soda.

Aoi got it and took a sip, surprised that he was actually craving for something sweet.

Satsuki smiled as the boy finished the whole bottle. "Here's cake. I'll get more soda. Eat up. You need sugar for the shock." She handed Misa the papers she was using to fan Aoi and the other got it and fanned the boy.

"You should have warned me about the knife, Aoi-chan."

Aoi snorted, "I would if I knew, dumbass." He said getting the cake and eating a part of it. The sugar felt nice to his stomach.

"Sorry."

"Whatever. In form of compensation, you're going to help me make dresses for a week since I can't use my other hand properly."

Misaki smiled and nodded. She knew that was the closest thing to a thank you she could get from the boy.

"And from now on, try avoiding knives and even the kitchen for a while."

"You don't need to tell me that, you old hag!"

Aoi shoved forkfuls of cake in his mouth in annoyance. He would definitely stay out of the kitchen from now on. He shuddered at the thought of the blood again.

Yup, no more kitchen.

"You really look cute when you're not frowning every second. You really scared me a while ago. And I'll gladly help you make dresses," With that and a pat on the boy's head, Misaki went back to the kitchen to clean up. Maybe they would cook another time.

Aoi almost dropped his fork at the contact. He was glad that Misaki did not see his jaw drop in surprise and his face heat up.

He looked at the woman as she walked away. _Damn her for affecting me like this!_

He whipped his head back to stare intently at the plate as he finished the cake in a few more forkfuls, the red dusting his cheeks never fading, even after Satsuki brought another soda and he finished it straight up.

After finishing the soda, he got his wig from the floor, fixed his appearance, removed the green apron stained with blood, stormed out of the Café and went straight home.

Oh yeah, and the blonde net-idol was still blushing.


End file.
